Dr Matthew Starr, chief executive officer of Used Tyre Recycling Corporation, started the journey almost two years ago when he first met with the Northern Grampians Shire Council to discuss plans for shredding the tyres and recycling them into valuable materials.

His vision was realised on Thursday when he, together with mayor Cr Murray Emerson, hit the button to turn on the tyre shredder at the site in Saleyards Road.

The event signalled the start of Used Tyre Recycling Corporation working to reduce the nine million tyre stockpile.

The work of UTRC will result in tyres being recycled into materials such as almost virgin carbon black and auto-quality diesel - all with zero emissions and minimal noise.

“Within the next 12 months we expect to have invested $10 million in infrastructure in Stawell,” Dr Starr said.

“We are very serious about reducing the stockpile and as soon as our processing plant is operational, we will be working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to do just this.”

Dr Starr said it had been an interesting journey to date, but the best was yet to come.

“We have been very proud of the help and assistance that we have received from council, the Environment Protection Authority and the Country Fire Authority,” he said.

“We are also very proud of the proactive and positive way that the community and the officials are actually working together with us, to help eradicate this blight on beautiful Stawell, that’s been here for the last eight to ten years.

“It’s our goal to make sure that in the next one or two years, that this pile disappears and that we generate a transfer station that is going to be unique and of world-leading standard here in Stawell.”

Dr Starr said the plant would employ more than 50 people when fully operational.

He said it would work in well with other major industries currently operating successfully in Stawell.

“It’s going to be a wonderful piece of infrastructure, similar to the abattoir on the other side of the railway line,” Dr Starr said.

The technology UTRC is employing is based around a patented tyre pyrolysis technique that was developed in Canada and is now owned by UTRC. 

The principle of the pyrolysis plant to be installed on site is a vacuum chamber that heats shredded rubber to 900 degrees centigrade. There is no unusable waste from the process that produces an abundant supply of recycled resources primarily comprising carbon black and through an oil distillation process, auto-quality diesel. UTRC is also collaborating with RMIT on technical matters.

Dr Starr said his company was committed to being in Stawell for the long-term.

”We will obviously have an income stream from the stockpile that’s there now, but will also need to ensure that the future is secure for our staff by having a steady supply of material to replace the pile when it is depleted.

“Our business model for this company and our other solar panels business is always about being renewable and sustainable. That is the basis of our multi-million-dollar Queensland operation and our investment in Stawell will be the same.”

Mayor Cr Murray Emerson said he was honoured to be given the task of switching on the tyre shredder for the first time.

“It is a very exciting day for the Northern Grampians Shire and specifically Stawell,” he said.

“When this problem first came to light, we had no idea how we were going to fix it. Then along came a man called Matthew Starr who had a vision as to what he could do to reduce this stockpile.

“Over time this has taken a heck of a lot of work from a heck of a lot of people and we all worked through it together.

“It has now come to this day, where we will be switching the new shredding machine and I’m sure we will start to see the tyre stockpile start to reduce.”

Cr Emerson said when he watched a helicopter fly overhead early on Thursday morning, allowing aerial photographs of the tyre stockpile to be taken, the realisation hit that it was the start of big things to come.

“The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I got really excited that this day had finally arrived,” Cr Emerson said.

“It has been a long road, but it is very exciting that this is happening today.”